Classical Top Five

This is such a personal choice.  If I guage this by what I actually listen to, Beethoven overwhelms this list for me.  After Beethoven, I don't think I would have a ranked order, but neither Brahms nor Tchaikovksy would be in my top 5 - probably top 10, certainly.  Mahler, Sibelius, Wagner, possibly Chopin, Haydn, Dvorak and others are top contenders.

Curious about the person who posted Holst - I have a project on my to-do list to spend a bunch of time listening to Holst past the Planets.  I have a handful of other recordings, but mostly he seems to be a one-hit wonder. I have heard of people owning 30+ recordings of the Planets and no other Holst.  

 The history Classical is complex, a top 5 clearly is impossible

Tchaikovsky is the obvious -  however my personal top 5 are Mozart, Beethoven, Copland, Grieg and Debussy-  round out to top 8- Bach, Ravel and Tchaikovsky and lastly to 10- Vivaldi and Strauss 

Gluck-Some of the most meltingly beautiful music ever and I can hardly believe it was composed by a man.

And for brownsfan the B Minor Mass is considered the greatest piece of music ever written.